


Accidental Magic

by Mainstream_Deviant



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Blue-Eyes White Dragon - Freeform, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Prideshipping, Seto is a dense brick but he's charming so...., accidental magic, and the untimely demise of a potted fern, kuriboh - Freeform, post-cannon, post-dsod
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23066416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mainstream_Deviant/pseuds/Mainstream_Deviant
Summary: Atem spots something...unusual... in Seto's latest prototype, and decides it's time to settle the "is magic real" question once and for all. Maybe if it's Seto's magic in the first place, he'll finally get through to the man!
Relationships: Atem/Kaiba Seto, Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi
Comments: 28
Kudos: 132





	Accidental Magic

**Author's Note:**

> This little fic was written originally as a back-up piece for a magic-themed zine. Since it's not needed for that, you get it now! Hurray!

Atem walked into the room to the familiar sight of Seto hunched over the latest piece of duelling technology. He was perfectly ready to settle on the office’s couch with the latest update of duel links while he waited for Seto to finish up, but took a quick detour to give him a peck on the cheek as he passed. As he did, he glanced over Seto’s shoulder and paused.

“Habibi, I didn’t know you remembered any of your spells.”

Seto gave a vague hum of acknowledgement, but stayed hyper-focused on the task at hand. His hands didn’t even pause in their movements as he laid in the next circuit. For the first time, Atem knew exactly where it was going to go. There was only one way to position it to finish the spell’s pattern, after all.

“Seto. I do hope this is for your own personal use?” Atem laid a hand on Seto’s shoulder, gently calling his attention away from his project.

“Hmm? What did you say?”

Atem fondly rolled his eyes and gestured at the machine with a questioning look. Seto looked surprised at his sudden interest in the technology behind their duels, and eagerly spread his hands to present his latest advancement.

“It’s a prototype for the latest edition of the duel disk. This generation’s holographic technology will reach a whole new level of realism never before seen.”

Atem raised an eyebrow. “Well yes, I should think so. The spells you’ve incorporated would certainly see to that. Did you incorporate magic into the previous editions as well? That seems unnecessarily risky, Seto.”

“Magic isn’t real, pharaoh.”

Atem just barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes like an annoyed teenager. The argument was old, and well-worn to the point that his old title – normally reserved for moments of true conflict – was coming out by simple force of habit before they’d even started.

“May I remind you – once more – that you pulled me out from the _afterlife_.”

“That was interdimensional transportation. Highly advanced scientific application, of course, which may well _seem_ magical to the uninformed, but perfectly and rationally explained when you understand the theories behind it.”

“Yes, and spells are perfectly and rationally explained when you understand _them_ , too.” Seto opened his mouth to continue their familiar banter, but this time Atem didn’t let him. “Which clearly, on some level, you do. After all – what is this?” Atem pointed one finger squarely at the tiny green and silver summoning circle that had been built into to the guts of the machine. He was just grateful he’d managed to catch Seto in the act before he completed it.

“… that would be a series of circuits. I realize that may _seem_ magical to you-”

Atem cut off his next words with a wave of his hand. “I don’t have time for ‘pharaoh, you’re so out of touch’ jokes tonight, habibi. This is important. If you’ve been incorporating circuits like this into your technology….”

“This is entirely new. I was inspired.”

“Inspired by your past life, apparently.”

Seto, it seemed, didn’t even want to dignify that with a response. He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, and levelled a challenging look at Atem.

This time Atem couldn’t hold back the eyeroll. “You are so pig-headed sometimes, it’s a wonder I put up with you. Here, let me show you.”

Atem leaned over the desk to grab a novelty zen garden from the corner of the desk. He quickly removed the stones and smoothed the sand out. Seto watched silently, his daring look firmly affixed to his face.

Atem placed the blank slate of sand next to the prototype. “Ok. Let’s play with magic a bit.” Atem pointed back at the circuitry. “Even if you still refuse to understand what you’re actually doing, we can both agree that there is a pattern to the circuits, yes?” Seto gave a curt nod. “Good. I’ll recreate the pattern here.”

Atem took his time to carefully recreate the magically-inspired portions of the technology in the sand. He could feel Seto’s eyes keenly watching his every move as he took several long, silent moments to complete most of the pattern. Leaving one small line incomplete, Atem pulled back to speak to Seto.

“There. Do you agree that these are all the most important lines of the circuitry?” A nod from Seto. “Even though I haven’t necessarily copied all the largest or most prominent bits of machinery?” Another nod. “Ok, so now-”

Seto cut him off. “How did you know which parts to copy? Jokes aside, designing technology has never been something you’ve showed an interest in.”

Atem’s smile was patient, if mildly exasperated. “Because those are the ones that are part of the spell, habibi. Just because you don’t believe in something doesn’t mean it’s not there.”

“Whatever. In any case, you missed a spot.”

“I know.” Atem smirked and crossed his arms. “I’m going to let you complete the circuit because maybe – just _maybe_ – that will get it through that thick skull of yours.”

Seto rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for these sorts of games. I need to finish building the actual prototype before I waste time playing with some sand.”

Seto reached for his tools again, but Atem laid a gentle hand on his to stop him. “Seto, habibi, please try it in the sand first. You’ll see. And even the great Seto Kaiba can find ten seconds to humour his boyfriend occasionally.”

Seto gave an annoyed huff. “Fine. But don’t be upset when this all amounts to nothing but two grown men playing with a novelty desk toy.”

“I’m sure I’ll manage. Now – go ahead.” Atem gestured to the sand invitingly.

Seto reached forward, and moved the sand-shaping tool as though he was about to make a mark in the wrong spot.

“Seto.” Atem levelled his best no-nonsense look on the man.

“How do you _know_ this.”

“Because you know technology, but I still know magic. Now, do this properly, or not at all.” Atem softened his look, offering Seto a kind smile. “You don’t need to be afraid of this, Seto. It’s a part of you.”

“I’m afraid of nothing.” With that, Seto reached forward to quickly add the last connecting line to the pattern in front of him.

As soon as he did, the entire thing lit up in a bright, blinding blue. Seto yelped and held an arm over his eyes.

“What the _hell_ is this? How did you get it to do that?”

Atem laughed in delight. “I didn’t do anything. You know that, I know that, stop being stubborn.”

Seto lowered his arm and stared at the glowing sand, which was now slowly fading. “Did you install emitters in there somewhere? But you don’t know enough about that kind of thing to manage something as clean-looking as this…” He sat in silence for a few moments before snapping his fingers as a new thought came to him. “Mokuba. He helped you set this up as a prank, didn’t he?”

Atem chuckled. “No. No Mokuba. Just you, and your deeply-repressed understanding of spells.”

Seto stared intently at the sand until the last of the light faded. He looked like he was… oh, what’s the word that Yugi used sometimes… ah, ‘buffering’. Seto looked very much like he was buffering as he tried to absorb the new information.

Finally, he fell back on his favourite coping mechanism – aggressive denial. He turned away from the spell work. “Well, as entertaining as that was, I have to get back to my real work…”

“Seto.” Atem’s tone brooked no argument. Seto turned to face him again. “You just activated a non-directive summoning circle on your own, with no outside interference. I am long past the point of letting you walk away from your past again.”

Seto scoffed, but Atem could see his eyes trailing back towards the sand, seemingly unable to hide the glimmer of curiosity from his gaze. Atem decided to take pity on him – just this once more.

“Alright, may I show you what this thing you’ve created can do, if you won’t play with it again yourself?”

“Be my guest. I’ll study what you do – there may be some useful applications to this prototype.”

Atem patted Seto on the shoulder rather condescendingly. “Yes, dear.” Seto’s tiny put-out frown was rather sweet, and he enjoyed it for a moment before turning back towards the little zen garden.

“Alright – when you first activated it, you were just putting some power through it without directing it anywhere. But if you focus your intentions, this can be used to summon a creature of your choice to this space.” Atem caught Seto’s patented Highly Sceptical™ look, and shook his head fondly. “Just watch, habibi. You’ve done something amazing here.”

Atem reached forward and closed his eyes, concentrating before touching his fingertips to the edge of the summoning circle. There was a bright burst of light, which intensified before fading much more abruptly than when Seto had activated it.

“ _KURI!!!!!!!”_

Atem cheerfully held out his arms to the Kuriboh spirit that had joined them through the sands. It nuzzled enthusiastically into his chest, and he took the opportunity to look up at his poor, magically repressed boyfriend.

He looked completed nonplussed, mouth hanging open in shock.

Atem allowed him the time to collect his thoughts, and shifted his focus back to his kuriboh friend, who was chattering excitedly and waving its short green arms. It wobbled forward to gently headbutt Atem with its soft fur before starting to bounce excitedly around the office, calling “ _Kuri! Kuri!!!_ ” as it went.

Atem turned back to Seto, and wound his arms around the man’s shoulders. “Penny for your thoughts, love.”

Seto tore his eyes away from the aggressively hyper-realistic Kuriboh bouncing towards his bookshelf and trained his eyes on Atem instead. “ _How_.”

“Magic, dumbass.” Seto looked doubly stunned at the uncharacteristic barb, and Atem collapsed in on himself in laughter. The Kuriboh quickly bounced back over to see what was so funny, and bopped around excitedly as Atem tried to catch his breath. When he finally did, it was to discover that the little spirit had situated itself in Seto’s lap, and the man was running his fingers tentatively through its fur, looking only very slightly less shocked than he had been a few minutes ago.

Atem reached forward to give the spirit his own approving sort of pat. “Are you at least willing to consider the possibility that I have a point this time?”

Seto ran contemplative fingers through the fur a few more times before replying. “I think I might have to, this time.” He laid one hand solidly on top of the Kuriboh’s head, compressing the fur with the weight of his hand. “This is extraordinary.”

The spirit didn’t tolerate having its fur squished for long, and made a frowny fuss as it waved its little arms to dislodge the hand on its head. Once Seto complied, it delicately hopped out of his lap and resumed exploring the room with a series of happy chirps following in its wake.

Atem perched himself on the armrest of Seto’s chair as they watched the little creature in silence. He held his hand out gently to Seto, and smiled to himself when he curled their fingers together.

“Will you let me show you how it’s done?”

Seto silently nodded his head. Atem wouldn’t be surprised in the least if he couldn’t bring himself to swallow his pride deeply enough to utter the words allowed. But that was ok.

“All you need to do, habibi, is concentrate very hard on your connection to one of your beasts. Someone special.” He stood up, to allow Seto to scoot towards the spell. “And I know what you’re thinking, and yes, this spell will make sure she can fit. You just need to believe it can happen.”

Seto turned to stare at Atem with wide eyes. He looked as close to scared as he’d ever let himself seem. Atem laid a hand on his cheek and rubbed gently along his jaw with the pad of his thumb, then leaned forward to rest their foreheads together. He felt Seto’s posture relax just slightly, and murmured into the space between them. “You’ll be fine, Seto. I promise.”

Seto took a shaky breath, and then slipped back into his confident veneer like a second skin. He squared his shoulders, and looked down at his accidental spell with a determination that belied the nervousness he’d shown moments before. He reached out one steady hand, and activated the spell.

There was another bright burst of light, and as it faded, there was a delicate chirrup from the desk. Atem grabbed Seto’s shoulder in excitement as the tiny blue dragon spread her little wings and hopped forward to press her head into Seto’s trembling hand.

“She’s _amazing_ , habibi.” The little dragon was excitedly gnawing on Seto’s fingers by now, but paused when Atem reached out his hand to greet her as well. She tilted her head as though considering his worthiness, and after waving her head back and forth a few times she gave out a happy squeak and quickly headbutted Atem’s hand before returning her attention to Seto and insistently pushing her way towards him.

Once she was curled up in the crook of his arm, and making good work of chewing off a button or two, Seto tore his eyes away from her. He gaped wordlessly at Atem, who simply smiled back.

“You’re welcome, habibi. Well done.” He laid a kiss to the crown of Seto’s head, and was promptly pushed out of the way by a mound of fur.

“ _Kuri?!!”_

The kuriboh bounced cheerfully towards the tiny blue-eyes, who stood up and spread her wings in challenge. The next thing either of them knew, she had pounced, rolling the pair of them off Seto’s lap and onto the floor. They didn’t have time to react before they were both up and off, chasing each other around the room in what appeared to be a loosely-governed game of tag. Given that the dragon’s entire wingspan wasn’t much bigger than the kuriboh’s width in their current states, they were fairly evenly matched.

Seto let out a deep breath of air. “I thought they were going to fight for a second there.”

Atem chuckled and shook his head. “They have no reason to do so, at the moment. They’re only here for a visit.” Atem winced when a potted plant met its ill-timed fate as the two bowled over one another. “They do not get many chances just to play in our world.”

Both spirits seemed to take the shattering pot as their cue to stop their game and hurry back to their partners. The kuriboh bounced up with a cheerful “ _Kuri!!!_ ” one last time, and pressed its forehead to Atem’s hand before vanishing in a twinkling of lights. But the tiny blue-eyes curled herself into Seto’s lap and started to leisurely preen a wingtip, clearly in no great hurry to go.

Seto ran reverent fingers over the tiny head as he stared down at her. “I don’t want her to leave.”

Atem resumed his spot leaning against Seto’s chair. “She’ll leave when you’re ready. You can’t keep her here forever without exhausting the both of you, but you can call her again whenever you like now that you remember how.”

Seto hummed, still carefully stroking the scales along the blue-eyes’ neck. “This is incredible.” He turned his own blue eyes on Atem. “Thank you for this.”

“I’m just glad you finally took my word for it. How many years did that take, exactly?” The pair smiled at each other ruefully. It seemed like they’d have to find a new argument to wear in like a good pair of leather boots. “But Seto, promise me something…”

“After this, anything.”

“Please don’t actually manufacture this for the masses. I don’t think the world can handle another ‘ _Duel Monsters come to life_ ’ event sponsored by Kaiba Corp.”

The tiny dragon spread its wings with an indignant chirp, as though to say ‘ _Who? Me?_ ’ and they both fell into laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> I love and adore ALL forms of feedback, from a kudos, to one (1) emoji, to a ten-page literary analysis that would make your 9th grade English teacher proud. I love replying to reviews, whether it's the day a fic is posted or literally years later, so please don't be shy. :)
> 
> Also, [ Tumblr ](https://mainstream-deviant.tumblr.com/). :)


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